Students' Experiences of Learning

This book argues that it may be useful to conceptualise student learning in undergraduate education as a dialectical change process of identity transformation which is mediated by cultural tools and social relationships. It analyses the experiences of students’ learning in undergraduate education throughout a four year degree course in a Sri Lankan university using an analytic framework informed by Engestrom’s version of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The book specifically explored the question of ‘how do students regulate their learning in relation to the contextual demands and their own valued outcomes?’ The analysis of students’ experiences highlights how the students’ learning is affected by tensions or dilemmas arising from the collective purpose and the institutional assessment practices and how the students’ and their lecturers’ achieved expansive learning at the systemic and individual levels. The findings are synthesised into a model for understanding student learning in undergraduate education and the implications for policy, practice and further research are discussed.